FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) — Severe beach erosion has forced the Island Beach Bar & Restaurant to close its popular “Dune Bar” amid safety concerns. The closure comes as an emergency sand dump enters its second day on South Beach.
To facilitate the work, the road outside the restaurant is closed during the day to allow dump trucks and bulldozers to deliver sand.
Assistant General Manager Jennifer Cranwell says the mood among the community is shifting from enjoyment to anxiety. “There’s concern, some discouragement,” Cranwell told CBS12 News. “This location in particular is really the heart of South Beach, and both locals and visitors alike flock here.”
Cranwell noted that while the beach has seen cycles of erosion before, the current state is unprecedented. “The safety factor versus years past is somewhat alarming that it’s gotten this bad seemingly this quickly.”
This emergency stopgap is expected to take at least ten days to complete. It comes with a steep price tag, set to cost the county over $400,000 from its reserve funds. For some residents, the high cost of this last-minute measure is a bitter pill to swallow.
“If you don’t put this as a priority, you’re going to be using funds you could have had for other emergencies, not something that could have been avoided already,” said Fort Pierce resident Denise Woodling. “I was hoping they would have some better solution for this, since I already saw it got filled up last time.”
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While the sand dump provides a temporary stopgap, the larger federal renourishment project has been delayed until at least March due to weather and equipment issues.